If he sends a letter to Covina’s city manager or a resident, it is typed on a sturdy and heavy green Olympia typewriter that’s more than 30 years old.

Low doesn’t own a cellphone. And the 77-year-old is not addicted to e-mail.

He is a different breed of public official, an old-school servant of the people who is less reliant on technology than many of his counterparts.

“I like to have everything in writing to analyze it critically and refer to them later,” he said. “I don’t like things aurally.”

Low knows that he is a throwback politician. He first ran for City Council in the 1970s while he was a teacher at Mark Keppel High School in Monterey Park. He was elected in 1978 and served until 1990. And even then, he was plugging away on the typewriter.

He learned to type as a teenager. And he has kept using a typewriter not just out of preference but because his handwriting is hard to make out.

“No one can read my handwriting,” Low said. “Even myself.”

While some of his fellow council members rely on cellphone calls, e-mail and text messages to communicate with each other, city employees and residents, Low takes a different approach.

He meets them in person, makes calls from his home phone or types out a letter. It may take longer to hear back but to him, that’s just the way business is done.

Industry Mayor Dave Perez takes pretty much the same approach. The only difference is Perez has a cellphone – so that his wife can get a hold of him wherever he is.

To Perez, too much chatting on the cellphone, text messaging and e-mailing has made people today too rude.

“There is a generation of people hiding behind a blueberry,” Perez said, referring jokingly to the popular Blackberry cellphones with e-mail and Internet capability.

Perez, 64, is a folksy man who made a living in his family’s trash collection business. He said he doesn’t know how to use e-mail and doesn’t plan to learn.

In his business-friendly city, he often encounters business people who can’t wrap their minds around his lack of connectivity. He said they often tell him he is the only mayor in the country without e-mail.

He said he often gives people the city’s office or fax number. Or he will give out his city manager’s e-mail address – if he remembers it.

“I keep forgetting it,” Perez said.

Like Low, Perez sends city correspondence through the mail or by fax. But his preferred method of doing business is a face-to-face meeting at City Hall. He said he likes reading people’s body language, eyes and expressions.

“You get reaction now,” Perez said. “And then, you have to put your hand out and shake.”

When he meets business people, he is selling his city and its benefits for them. So a face-to-face meeting reaps rewards, he said.

“I’m selling the City of Industry,” Perez said. “When they see that and know that you want to take the time in person, I think it adds a lot of value.”

At the heart of Low’s style is a unique philosophy. Many council members want to be plugged in so that they can respond at any hour to city emergencies or questions.

But Low believes that’s what he hired a competent police chief and others to do.

“I’m a policy maker,” he said.

Low and Perez’s old-school ways are in stark contrast to other San Gabriel Valley politicians.

Diamond Bar Councilwoman Ling-Ling Chang, who at 33 is among the youngest politicians in the Valley, said she loves being plugged in.

She often gives her cellphone number to residents. She uses Facebook and Twitter, social media websites, to tell people where she is and what meetings she is attending.

“The people elected me,” she said. “I want to be as accessible as possible to the people that elected me.”

Residents call and e-mail her. She often text messages city employees or other council members with questions. Some residents have even thanked her for the updates on Facebook. She often tweets from her phone. With all the possibilities for communication, she doesn’t mind always being in touch.

“I like to be connected because I want to know immediately what’s going on to immediately respond to residents’ concerns,” she said.

For Perez, that’s a wired lifestyle he’s not used to and likely never will try. He said he will rely on his trusted people skills. He understands everyone has their own style but he firmly believes that his low-tech approach works.

“I know I’m old-fashioned but I think it’s the proper way to do business,” Perez said.

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